The 25-page action plan for organic production in England has a strong focus on market development and calls for a survey to be carried out by the British Retail Consortium in September to identify the proportion of imported organic lines stocked by the multiples The results of this survey will then be made available to the Action Plan Group - a supplier-retailer forum - which will seek to agree by December 2002 with the retailers, collectively or individually which sectors offer English producers the best opportunities for meeting consumer demand. Once opportunities are identified, individual retailers will seek to support producers to increase their share of the organic market.

It will also give those involved access to government funding, provided they come up with good quality projects, through the processing and marketing grant scheme and the rural enterprise scheme (RES).

Conversion aid for top fruit production under the organic farming scheme will be increased to £600 a hectare for the first three years and £30 a ha in the next seven in order to help English growers to respond to consumer demand for organically produced fruit and contribute to government targets of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption.

The plan also recommends RES support for box schemes, farmers markets and farm shops with regional food initiatives to be supported and consideration given to the issue of food miles.

The plan has been welcomed by the NFU, although the union expected more. 'While the changes to the organic farming scheme are welcome, the new level of support still does not match the level of government assistance available to farmers in other EU countries,' said Oliver Dowding, NFU organic chairman.

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